Learn how to make a sourdough starter recipe from scratch with just flour and water. This versatile ingredient can be used to make breads, cakes, cookies, and so much more.

If you hang around the traditional foods community, chances are you have heard of making homemade sourdough starter from scratch.

I have had my homemade starter for over six years now. It is vital in my traditional food kitchen.

What Is A Sourdough Starter?

A sourdough starter is a live active culture made of fermented flour and water that is full of beneficial bacteria and yeasts.

It is used as a way to ferment recipes and naturally rise bread.

Why You Will Love Sourdough:

If you are unfamiliar, let me fill you in on all the reasons why crazy folks, like me, go through the effort of handcrafting, and maintaining, a beneficial colony of yeasts and bacteria in their kitchens.

Before yeast was isolated and sold in little packets, sourdough starter was a valuable commodity in homes and families, passed down for generations.

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Health Benefits

Have you ever heard of phytic acid? Basically, it’s an antinutrient found in grains, beans, and nuts that interferes with the absorption of certain nutrients. They are present on grains to keep them from spoiling.

There is a reason they are there, but there is also good evidence that our bodies weren’t meant to handle them. Proper preparation of grains eliminates most, if not all, of the phytic acid in offending foods.

This is the very reason traditional cultures soaked and fermented their grains, seeds, and beans. These days, we’ve lost that art. And what have we found? People can’t handle grains anymore.

Instead of using instant yeast packets, people in traditional cultures leavened their bread with a fermented starter that captured all the yeasts in the environment.

AKA Sourdough starter

How on earth do we capture native yeasts? Read on, because I explain how to make your very own starter.

Because I love good food

I already confessed my foodie tendencies with you all. I reckon it’s the same inclination that led me into the world of homemade sourdough.

Locally made sourdough starter, with the native yeasts of the area present, is certainly the thing a foodie’s dreams are made of. A jar of healthy, productive starter is teaming with life, as evidenced by all the bubbles you will see rising to the surface.

Once you’ve experienced homemade sourdough baked goods, store-bought breads and pancakes simply don’t cut it. Sourdough has a depth of flavor that just can’t be found in something made quickly with a packet of instant yeast.

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.

FAQ:

hand holding a wooden spoon in a bowl of sourdough starter with a blue and white towel to the left

How long does it take to make sourdough starter?

It takes about a week to create an active sourdough starter, but sometimes it can take about two weeks to make a starter ready to bake bread.

Do you have to discard sourdough starter every time you feed it?

When you are first creating your sourdough starter, yes. If you donโ€™t discard you will have so much starter that it will be hard to keep healthy. This is because the more starter you have the more flour and water you will need to add for the yeasts and bacteria to feed on.

After having a starter for a while rather than discarding you can just use it in discard recipes. This is a much more useful way of removing some of the starter rather than throwing it in the trash.

How do you know your sourdough starter is ready to use?

You will know your sourdough starter is read to use when you feed it and after 4-12 hours it doubles in size and is super bubbly. A good way to be able to determine this, is to place a rubber band where the top of the starter is after you feed it. Then after a few hours have passed you can see just how high it has grown.

Another way is to perform the float test. Take a small glass of room temperature water. Add a quarter sized dollop of active starter. If it floats, it is ready to bake with. If it doesnโ€™t it is not active enough.

Sourdough Starter Recipe:

By now, you know why you want to have a bowl of sourdough starter bubbling away in your kitchen, but how the heck do you make one?

Ingredients

Flour (Whole grain wheat, unbleached all-purpose, and einkorn are all great choices.)

Filtered water (I use a Berkey water filter. We have the Royal size for our family of 7. You can find my full Berkey review HERE.)

Tools

Glass bowl (Metal can react with beneficial bacteria and yeasts.)

Wooden spoon

Tea towel

How To Make Sourdough Starter

Day 1:

On day one, mix one cup of flour and one cup filtered water. Stir vigorously, making sure to scrape down the sides and incorporate everything. Place a clean tea towel over the bowl and set aside. Allow it to sit for 24 hours.

Day 2:

On day two, discard half of the mixture and repeat the process. Add one cup flour, one cup water, stir vigorously, and cover.

Why do you have to remove half the mixture? By day four, you would have sourdough starter overflowing from your bowl. Also, removing half ensures that the right amount of flour and water is feeding the growing colony of beneficial yeast. If you weren’t discarding half, the cup of flour wouldn’t be enough to feed them on days three and four. Basically, you would end up with a lot of extra starter by the end of the process, and none of it would be mature.

Day 3-5

Repeat the day two instructions for days three, four, and five.

Day 6-7

On days six and seven, do the same but feed it every 12 hours, instead of every 24.

By day seven, there should be enough beneficial bacteria and yeast present to bake sourdough bread and other fermented sourdough goodies, like pancakes and english muffins.

You will know it’s working if it bubbles, and doubles in size.

Sourdough Starter Maintenance

Once your sourdough starter is alive and active, there will be some maintenance to keep it going for years and years.

In the refrigerator for occasional use

Storing it in the refrigerator slows down the fermentation process, so one feeding per week, or every other week, is sufficient.

I usually use my starter a couple times per week. If I plan to make pancakes Saturday morning, for example, I will pull my starter out of the fridge Friday morning and add flour and water. By Saturday morning it is bubbly and ready to go.

I remove the two cups of starter needed for my pancake recipe, and put the “master starter” back in the fridge. Since it was fed the day before, it is good to go for another week, or whenever I need it next.

On the counter for daily use

Since the “little guys”, as my kids like to call the bacteria in the starter, are active at room temperature, they will have to be fed more often if keep it in this state.

If you leave your starter out on the counter, you will need to add flour and water every day. You will also have to be baking every day to use up all that starter.

Most people probably won’t use the starter quite so much, unless you own and operate a bakery. I would recommend storing it in the refrigerator between uses.

Video tutorial on how to make a sourdough starter from scratch

Helpful Resources

Every day I get loads of questions about sourdough starter, so I devoted a whole post called, How to Care for Sourdough Starter filled with your questions and my answers. You can use this post a reference guide.

Thank you so much for stopping by the farmhouse! I hope this is just the beginning of our sourdough journey.

Check out my other sourdough recipes and posts

If you try this recipe and love it, I would love if you gave it 5 stars! Also, tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone.

Sourdough Starter

4.53 from 1052 votes
Learn how to make a homemade sourdough starter from scratch. Video tutorial also includes sourdough health benefits and our favorite ways to use sourdough starter in the farmhouse.
Additional Time: 7 days
Total: 7 days
Servings: 1 sourdough starter
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Just enter your email and get it sent to your inbox! Plus you’ll get new recipes from us every week!
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Ingredients 

  • Flour, Whole grain wheat, unbleached all purpose, and einkorn are all great choices.
  • Filtered water

Instructions 

  • On day one, mix one cup of flour and one cup filtered water. Stir vigorously, making sure to scrape down the sides and incorporate everything. Place a clean tea towel over the bowl and set aside. Allow it to sit for 24 hours.
  • On day two, discard half of the mixture and repeat the process. Add one cup flour, one cup water, stir vigorously, and cover.
  • Repeat the day two instructions for days three, four, and five.
  • On days six and seven, do the same but feed it every 12 hours, instead of every 24.
  • By day seven, there should be enough beneficial bacteria and yeast present to bake sourdough bread and other fermented sourdough goodies, like pancakes and english muffins. You will know itโ€™s working if it bubbles, and doubles in size.

Notes

Sourdough Starter Maintenance

  • Once your sourdough starter is alive and active, there will be some maintenance to keep it going for years and years.

In The Refrigerator For Occasional Use

  • Storing it in the refrigerator slows down the fermentation process, so one feeding every week, or every other week, is sufficient.
  • I usually use my starter a couple times per week. If I plan to make pancakes Saturday morning, for example, I pull my starter out of the fridge Friday morning and add flour and water. By Saturday morning it is bubbly and ready to go. I remove the two cups of starter needed for my pancake recipe and put the โ€œmaster starterโ€ back in the fridge. Since it was fed the day before, it is good to go for another week, or whenever I need it next.

On The Counter For Daily Use

  • Since the โ€œlittle guysโ€, as my kids like to call the bacteria in the starter, are active at room temperature, they will have to be fed more often if kept in this state.
  • If you leave your starter out on the counter, you will need to add flour and water every day. You will also have to be baking daily to use up all that starter.
  • Most people probably wonโ€™t use the starter quite so much, unless you own and operate a bakery. I would recommend storing it in the refrigerator between uses.

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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2,073 Comments

  1. Katie Huntley says:

    I have been feeing my starter for over a month and still can’t get it to float. I tried using it to make sourdough bread and they were solid and didn’t rise. Bummer. Should I try feeding it twice a day? I have nice bubbles and a nice sour/sweet smell. I have only been feeding it once a day right now. I’m in FL.

  2. Cassie says:

    Hi there! I have never made a starter but really want to try! Iโ€™m
    Confused about the discard though. I read some people say the discard is when it flattens and falls but I donโ€™t see where you talk about that, and also that some people use the discard? That might be something I just need to wait until later for. I think Iโ€™ve seen too many different recipes and blogs! But I love yours and plan to try it!

    1. Lisa says:

      I’m sure there is different ways to do this. When you are first making a starter, the starter won’t really rise and fall much. After it has become nice and active it will start to. When it rises and is bubbly, this would be considered active starter. When it falls, it would be considered discard. Discard can be used in many discard recipes (check out some ideas here). This helps reduce waste and is tasty. Hope that helps.

  3. Maegan says:

    Would this recipe be able to be used with a 1:1 gluten free flour? I really want to try my hand at sour dough but have a little one that is gluten intolerant

  4. Marshall Wakerley says:

    Hi Lisa, my name is Marshall and I live at Mt Mee which has rolling green hills filled with friendly cattle but is just north of Brisbane Australia between there and the Sunshine Coast with views out to Moreton Bay.
    Just starting but a lady of Polish origin nearby had a 30litre bread mixer for sale so bought it even though I only expect to bake 6 loaves a week in our wood fired pizza oven.
    No intention to bake for sale; just our own use. Your starter detail is a delight as easy to understand.
    My query is how do I build enough starter to bake that many loaves once a week? I may be cerebrally challenged and it may be as simple as feeding the starter until I have enough for 6 x 850 gram loaves. and maintain that quantity in the fridge with some left over to build again. I truly love your passion and desire to help others. Cheers

    1. Lisa says:

      Hi Marshall. After your starter is established you technically don’t have to discard as long as you feed it enough flour and water to keep it happy and healthy. It is pretty easy to build up your starter once it gets going. Good luck, happy baking.

  5. Tracey says:

    What container do you use to store sour dough starte in?

    1. Lisa says:

      I have a large lidded glass jar.

  6. Leia says:

    I’m on day 4 of my sourdough starter, and I’ve been stirring the hooch back into it every day so far. Am I messing with the consistency? I’m thinking it should be thicker, but I’ve never made this before, and I always like to 2nd guess myself when I do something new.

    1. Lisa says:

      It is ok to stir the hooch back in. Trust the process. If it seems way too thin you could add a little more flour to it.

  7. Sophie says:

    Can I say that it’s the first time that I really understand the process? I’ve read a lot about it and each time I was like, whatever, it’s too complexe! But the way that you are explaining it, wow! So simple! It will be a daughter mother project!

    1. Lisa says:

      I am so glad!! I wish you the best of luck with it!

  8. Katya Rodriguez says:

    Hi I’m new to the art of sourdough making.I’ve been using my starter for my baking and left it alone afterwards till it’s time for the 2nd feeding. By then it has risen (doubled) and I have discarded part of it since I use it earlier and did my 2nd feeding. My question is do I have to discard before the 2nd feeding if i used the starter earlier in the day for baking or can i just feed it without discard.

    1. Lisa says:

      Nope. If you are removing some of the starter to use in a recipe this would be like discarding and you can just feed it without discarding again. Hope that helps.

  9. Becky Neuhalfen says:

    Hi Lisa…..when making starter for the first time, can I use a mixture of whole wheat and AP flour? Thank you

  10. Alyssa says:

    How much sourdough starter should I have on day 7?